The Fab 50 lineup of India's perennially strong technology-outsourcing giants changes this year. Infosys makes the roster for the sixth straight year and Tata Consultancy Services wins a spot for the third time in four years. But Wipro—which had clinched a Fab 50 place each year since the list began in 2005—drops out. Instead, HCL joins the elite ranks. India's fourth-largest software company, HCL added more than 10,000 employees over the past year. Based in Noida, it gets 59% of its revenue from the Americas and 27% from Europe. HCL is working on critical software for the flight test and launch of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It was founded in 1991 by Shiv Nadar, a regular on the India Rich List. At Bangalore's Infosys, profits and revenue each climbed 20%. The debt-free company added 27,600 employees and six $100 million clients (up from four last year). This year it's hiring 36,000 people. Meanwhile, it's hunting for a successor to Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy, who is due to retire next August. Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest and oldest IT company, is hiring even more staff than its rivals: 40,000 this year. It has also announced a 10% pay raise for its offshore employees. To pay the bills it has added one $500 million client, two $100 million clients and seven $50 million clients. There was a changing of the guard as S. Ramdorai stepped down as chief executive. Chief Operating Officer N. Chandrasekaran, a 20-year veteran at the company, took the helm.

All figures are in U.S. dollars. Market value as of Sept. 1.1 - Annualized2 - Annualized; projected over next three to five years.3 - Combined market value for Rio Tinto Ltd. and Rio Tinto Plc. (a dual-listed company with headquarters in Australia and the U.K.)
NA - Not availableSources: Interactive Data, LionShares, Thomson IBES and Worldscope via FactSet Research Systems; Bloomberg.Photo: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom